Apple, HTC cleared in U.S. trade tribunal dispute over wireless patents

HTC

31/08/2022 22:34

By Blake Brittain
    Aug 31 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday
affirmed a win for Apple Inc  AAPL.O , HTC Corp  2498.TW  and
ZTE Corp  000063.SZ  against allegations that imports of their
devices infringe wireless-technology patents.
    The companies' smartphones, smart watches, tablets and other
LTE-capable devices do not violate INVT SPE LLC's rights in two
patents originally owned by Panasonic, the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit said https://tmsnrt.rs/3cwJIhA.
    The companies and their attorneys did not immediately
respond to requests for comment. 
    INVT is a patent-holding company affiliated with investment
funds managed by Fortress Investment Group LLC, a SoftBank Group
Corp  9984.T  subsidiary. 
    Fortress defeated a separate lawsuit last year brought by
Apple and Intel that accused it and its affiliates, including
INVT, of violating antitrust law by stockpiling thousands of
patents and demanding extortionate licensing fees. Apple later
dropped out of the case, which is currently on appeal.
    INVT filed a complaint against Apple, HTC and ZTE at the
U.S. International Trade Commission in 2018, accusing their
devices that comply with the LTE wireless standard of infringing
its patents. It sought a ban on imports of the allegedly
infringing devices.
    The commission ruled for the device makers in 2020. A
three-judge Federal Circuit panel upheld the decision Wednesday.
    U.S. Circuit Judge Raymond Chen wrote the devices did not
infringe one of INVT's patents because they functioned
differently than what is described in the patent. The devices
were not capable of receiving and handling data signals in the
same way as INVT's patented technology, the appeals court said.
    The Federal Circuit also found the patent was not essential
to the LTE standard, and that the devices did not infringe
simply by being LTE capable. 
    The court found the rest of the appeal was moot because
INVT's other patent had expired. Apple and ZTE previously
withdrew from this appeal.   

 (Reporting by Blake Brittain; Editing by Josie Kao)